Toy roadway layout



Nova 24, 1970 A. EINFALT TOY ROADWAY LAYOUT 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 6, 1967 Fig.2

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ALFRED E/NFALT;

Arramrs Nov. 24, 1970 A. EINFALT 3,541,724

' TOY ROADWAY LAYOUT Filed Feb. 6, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVGNTOR. LFRG B Eulfaur United States Patent 3,541,724 TOY ROADWAY LAYOUT Alfred Einfalt, Nuremberg, Germany, assignor to Gebruder Einfalt, Blechspielwarenfabrik, Nuremberg, Germany, a firm of Germany Filed Feb. 6, 1967, Ser. No. 614,332 Claims priority, applicafion Germany, Aug. 13, 1966,

E 23,865 Int. Cl. A63h 11/00 US. Cl. 46202 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure teaches a toy roadway layout which includes at least one ascending section. A helical coil is arranged along the ascending section and is rotated about its central axis. A toy vehicle travels the roadway and has a projection which is engageable by the helical coil so that the toy vehicle is advanced by the coil up the ascending section.

This invention relates to a toy roadway layout having ascending and descending sections whereon toy vehicles without self-drive are moved upwards on at least one ascending section by a pushing device.

According to the present invention, a coil spring which is rotatable about its longitudinal axis serves as a pushing device and is disposed at the side of the ascending section to be engaged with a laterally extending projection or pin of toy vehicles.

Rotatable coil springs for the movement of toy vehicles are in fact known. Up till now however they have always been disposed let into the base of the roadway to be engaged by a depending element projecting from a toy vehicle. By providing the coil spring at the side of the roadway of the ascending section, a closed roadway circuit is made possible with sections along which the toy vehicles may run free.

The drive of the coil spring is effected by means of a driving mechanism, for example, a small electric motor which is disposed below the roadway section changing over into the ascending section.

It is preferred to form the toy roadway layout switchback-railway-like in that the ascent with the pushing device extends via a curved section into a descending section which in turn via another curved section passes to a further descending section which extends downwards, between the ascending section and the first descending section, and passes over a further curve to a further descending section running below the first descending section and leading via a curved section back into the ascending section.

According to a further feature of the present invention a by-pass track section is associated with at least one descending section, e.g., the last or further descending section, and at the entry to such by-pass track switching means are provided while at the outlet a vehicle stopping device is located. Thus a toy vehicle may be deflected onto the by-pass by the switching means and latched thereon by the vehicle stopping means. The invention is hereinafter ice more fully described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the toy roadway layout,

FIG. 2 shows a section on II-II of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 shows a section on line III-III of FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 shows a section on line IV-IV of FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 is a plan view :on an enlarged scale of the bypass track section, and

FIG. 6 shows a section on VIVI of FIG. 5.

On the base plate a are located the supports b, c and d which carry the difierent ascending and descending sections of the roadway layout.

The roadway layout has the ascending section e which is connected via the curved section 1 to the descending section g through the curved section It and on to the descending section i which passes in its turn into the curved section k and on into the descending section I which by means of the curved section m passes back into the ascending section 2.

The ascending section e is provided with a pushing device which consists of a coil spring n. A laterally projecting pin of x a vehicle w engages between two adjacent coil windings when the vehicle arrives at the bottom end of the spring along section 2. The coil spring is located in a laterally opening groove or U-rail 0 at the side of the ascending section e. This U-rail may be formed as the edge of the ascending section.

The drive of the coil spring n is effected by the small electric motor p which, together with the battery q is located in a housing r which is placed on the base plate a under the curved section m. As is evident, rotation of the spring will pull pin x and with it vehicle w to the top of ascending section e whereupon the pin becomes disengaged as the spring ends.

The descending section i is such that it runs downwards from the curved section n to the curved section k between the ascending section e and the descending section g.

The descending section I is located somewhat below the descending section g. It has a by-pass track section s onto which toy vehicles can be caused to run by means of the switch member 1 which can be moved alternately into the position shown in full lines in FIG. 5 and the position shown in dot-and-dash lines by means of a handle t which projects beyond the edge of the section I.

It is preferred to associate with the by-pass traction section s a stop device for the vehicles. This may consist of a tunnel-like housing u to which a lever v is hingedly fixed which, as FIG. 6 shows by full and broken lines, can be brought inside and outside the path of movement of toy vehicle w.

I claim:

1. A toy roadway layout comprising:

a continuous track including at least one ascending section;

a rotary helical coil positioned with its axis alongside of and parallel to said ascending section,

drive means connected to the helical coil for rotating it about said axis,

at least one toy vehicle arranged to travel along the roadway,

a driving pin laterally extending from one side of the 4 toy vehicle and engageable with windings of the helical coil whereby the toy vehicle is advanced up References Cited the ascendin section by driving the coil. 2. The combination of claim 1 with UNITED STATES PATENTS an enclosure alongside the ascending section housing 5 2,992,598 7/1961 Einfalt 462l6 the helical coil, 3,154,024 10/1964 Einfalt 46202 X the enclosure provided with an elongate opening along the ascending section facing the same, said driving FOREIGN PATENTS pin extending through said opening for engagement 901 473 7/1962 Great B i i with the windings of the helical coil. 10 1,322,926 2/1963 France.

3. The combination of claim 2 with the toy roadway layout having a descending section in ROBERT PESHOCK, Primary Examiner advance of the ascending section,

a housing for enclosing the driving means and positioned under the descending section. 

